Some out-of-towner found this little fellow along side the road yesterday. It was late in the afternoon so they put him in a styrofoam cooler, found some minnows and fed him. This morning they took him to the local Vet's office and were appalled when the Vet said all they can do is turn it loose in the woods somewhere..... Oh the inhumanity! (yes that is said with thick sarcasm)
....They trollied on up to the PD thinking I could do something for them.... Imagine a 'Vet' not being able to help this poor thing (the guy complained)... I appeased the man and said I would try to find a Conservation Officer. I called all the counties in the area and finally found a CO on duty. I told the concerned citizen that a CO would be calling me back soon.. The man had to leave so he handed me the precious package and off he went, satisfied that the bird would be taken care of...
The CO called me back rather quickly. I told him I had a baby owl and wanted to know what he wanted me to do with it. I fully expected him to tell me to have an officer take it to the woods and let nature takes it's course. He was much more sympathetic than expected. He said he was heading to this area anyway so he would stop by, pick up the bird and take it to the wildlife sanctuary.... Impressed! 
...Except when I actually looked at this 'owl'....hmmmm, I don't think it's an owl. ...well, is Mr. CO going to be irked when he gets here and finds some ordinary bird instead of an owl?... When Mr. CO arrived, there were three of us in dispatch looking at our feathered friend trying to figure out what it was. The CO came in and ....hmmmm, he didn't know what it was either. He said, "you would think the local 'Conservationist' would know what this is" ha ha.However, he was still sympathetic this little creatures plight. The bird was 'chirping' hungry so Mr. CO took him down the the local 'fish and tackle' place to see if they would donate some worms to tide him (the bird not the CO) over until he could get him the the refuge.
I took these pictures on my phone so they aren't the greatest, but can anyone tell me what kind of bird this is? And the concerned citizen referred to the CO as 'Game Warden'..... are there locations out there that still call them 'Game Warden'? I thought Conservation Officer was the policially correct name now-a days. I guess what I am asking is if Game Warden is just for Old timers?
4 comments:
He looks like a swallow, but there are millions of them hunting mosquitos in our yard each evening (seriously, it's like The Birds!), so that may be why I thought of a swallow first.
We still use the term Game Warden around here. I've never heard him referred to as the CO, but this is a big hunting/fishing area.
What a sweet story. Cute bird.
Rachel
Sorry don't know what kind of bird that is, but its cute....and I hate it when I'm faced with something like that. I just hate to see a creature get killed, but I won't go to the lengths of keeping it in MY house either especially sine I'm not trained to know what to do with it. I think my first thought would be to take it to the vet too but if I really thought hard about it, I guess a person being a vet doesn't make them automatically responsible for all living creatures when they are injured. In other words, a vet can't just treat every animal that "walks" in, especially if it is a wild animal. (although part of me would definitely like it to work that way).
Something similar happened to me...out here in front of my work (I work right on a fairly busy Farm to Market road) I saw a truck hit a dog - a probably 8-12 month old dog - a lab I think...and the poor thing limped over to the side of the road and I went over in the ditch to try to find it, having seen heard the wheels squeal....and I found it, lying there dying. It had a little blood, but probably mostly internal injuries. There is a vet just a few hundred yards down from where it came to rest. I called the vet to let them know..I was thinking at the least, they could come out and maybe euthanize it?? So it wasn't lying there suffering. They basically said "sorry, not our problem" with the sort of "what do you want US to do about it" kind of attitude. I guess I just expected a tiny bit more sympathy?? But seeing it from their side, like I said, they can't exactly be responsible for all living creatures.
Gosh, this is a long comment isn't it? Sorry about that.
As far as the term Game Warden, we still use it here and I haven't heard the CO term at all in this part-a-Texas.
Shucks Bekah wish Dad was here he might be able to tell what kind of bird this is. I hope you hear from the CO if he finds out what it is. I don't know what TN calls this kind of person and in FL I'm not sure if it had changed from Game Warden to CO.
Good work on your part though, you never know what a dispatcher will be called on to do next do you. :o)
Love Mom
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